Nearly One in Ten Employees Work From Home

About one in 10 workers does their job at least partly from home now, an emerging trend that could boost the productivity of the entire economy.

The U.S. Census Bureau said in a report Tuesday that some 13 million people, or 9.4% of the working population in 2010, worked at least one day at home per week, compared with just 9.2 million people in 1997, when 7% worked at least partly from home. People working either entirely or partly from home were more likely to be in management and business. Those in computer, engineering and science jobs saw among the biggest shifts home-ward: “Home-based” work in these fields jumped around 70% from 252,000 workers in 2000 to 432,000 workers in 2010. (Home-based workers work exclusively or part of the time from home.)